Monday, 30 December 2013

Does your 2014 New Year’s resolutions sound a bit like this: lose weight, exercise, quit smoking, eat less crap, enjoy life and so on on and on.

As soon as January hits we see a huge increase in traffic at the gym,
and plenty of motivated people who are determined to change their
lifestyle after the last few months of awful holiday eating. They write
out very broad goals, but no action steps, and usually lose the
motivation by mid-March.

If you know you need to change your lifestyle, don’t plan for 30 days down the line, or even tomorrow morning. Start Now. There is no such thing as a ‘last meal’, give up on the dieting mindset – this isn’t a diet, this is a lifestyle that needs to work with your routine and schedule to be sustainable.You know your schedule and your tastes best, and only you know what
is sustainable with your busy life. If they work in your schedule, make it a habit, if it
doesn’t work or it isn’t to your taste, then it won’t be sustainable
for you to keep forcing yourself to do it, so lose it!

Don't let DIET or EXERCISE grown on you, accept it as a lifestyle enjoy it.....

Wednesday, 25 December 2013

Fresh vegetables, leafy vegetables
should be consumed in good amounts.. Not all vegetables are created
equal. The darker the color, the higher the concentration of nutrients. For
example, spinach has more to offer the mind and body than iceberg lettuce.
Other great vegetable choices include bell peppers, broccoli and sweet
potatoes.

Also eating a lot of green leafy
vegetable can help us with detoxifying the body

Sunday, 22 December 2013

An easy and healthy sweet dish to keep you warm this winter

Add one tablespoon of ghee in half kg of
dates. Then, stir it continuously till the dates get softer. Once it
reaches a thick paste-like consistency, add a handful of grated almonds
on top, spread it in a dish and cut it into pieces. A healthy, home-made
date halwa is ready. (you can also try adding other dry fruits, anjir
to it)
Mrs Shilpa Mittal
Nutritionist and Diet Consultant
Founder Shilpsnutrilife - Diet and lifestylemakeover

Friday, 13 December 2013

Mint (Pudina) is a powerful herb
with a sweet flavour, and a cooling after-sensationRich in Vitamins- βeta Carotene (Precursor of Vitamin A ), Vitamin C, Folate and also has essential minerals like Iron,manganese, potassium, calcium, zinc,copper,etc .

Mint adds a touch of sweetness without the sugar, and
it also helps settle your stomach and aids in digestion. Mint leaves are
a nice refreshing flavor to add to your drink. On top
of that, it can help you digest more effectively, improving the flow of
bile from the liver, to the gallbladder, to the small intestine, where
it breaks down dietary fats. Mint also helps relax cramped up stomach
muscles

WATCH OUT FOR REFERESHING MINT TEA RECIPE COMING SOON

Even Health-Conscious Consumers Find It Hard to Maintain a Healthy Diet

It’s
a proven fact that most people change their eating habits and lifestyle
choices only after a serious health scare such as a heart attack or a
diabetes diagnosis. Still, in many cases that may not be enough. Old
habits tend to die hard, but often there are also not many alternatives
to what they’ve been doing in terms of eating right and taking care of
themselves.

Making Better Diet and Lifestyle Choices
Continues to Be an Uphill Battle

A recent study
found that most consumers after being confronted with a major health
crisis were still influenced in their choices by factors other than
what’s good for their health. For example, people can find it difficult
to change their long established eating habits, says Dr. Yu Ma, an
economics professor at Alberta School of Business and
author of the study. Another highly influential factor is price, he
says. If they get a good deal on a particular item, they will go for it,
and if it’s too expensive, they will stay away, no matter how much they
would benefit healthwise.
Another issue is what he calls the “health halo effect.” Most people
divide foods simply into two categories: healthy and unhealthy, he says.
If something is considered healthful, e.g. a salad or a breakfast
cereal, as opposed to a cheeseburger or a sugar-laden donut, people tend
to overindulge in the “healthy” stuff without much further thought. We
have seen that phenomenon when, for example, fat-free cookies came on
the market and many believed they could consume those in almost
unlimited quantities because of the absence of fat. Of course,
eliminating the fat did not make those cookies less caloric, and the
results became apparent soon thereafter.
Another study,
this one on heart attack and stroke patients, showed that nearly 15
percent did not alter their eating and lifestyle habits after the
incident, including poor diet choices, lack of exercise and smoking.
Less than half of all participants in the study reported having made at
least one change, and less than a third said they made several
improvements. Only 4 percent claimed they did everything that was
recommended to them to prevent further deterioration of their health.
Much of the unwillingness or inability to make healthier diet and
lifestyle choices can be blamed on the widespread confusion among the
public due to the ceaseless onslaught of sometimes contradictory
messages in the media about health matters. In addition, many of the
warnings issued by experts are hard to heed by consumers who are
oftentimes ignorant, if not intentionally kept in the dark, about the
nutritional quality of their food supply. For instance, recommendations
to avoid high fat, salt and sugar content may be well-meaning, but they
are by and large useless when ingredients lists are hard to decipher or
when restaurants aren’t required to follow any dietary guidelines or to
post nutritional information on their menus.
“I think people are interested in making changes and they are heeding
the warnings,” said Dr. Sara Bleich, an associate professor of health
policy at the John Hopkins School of Public Health to NBCNews.
“But when it comes to food, it’s much more complicated. Cereal, for
example, has a tremendous amount of added sugar. And not everyone
understands that breakfast foods like muffins and pastry, things that
people don’t consider to be a dessert or an indulgence, pack a lot of
sugar.” Similar concerns apply to salt in countless processed foods,
many of which don’t even taste salty, and certain types of fats, some of
which are obscured by arbitrary serving descriptions on food labels.
Undoubtedly, more and more people want to be better informed about
nutritional health and be empowered to make the right choices. With
growing consumer demand for further regulation and protection, that may
be feasible over time. But for now, it’s an ongoing uphill battle, and
most of us have to fend for ourselves as well as we can.

- See more at:
http://www.timigustafson.com/2013/even-health-conscious-consumers-find-it-hard-to-maintain-a-healthy-diet/#sthash.Wwt9xIzu.dpuf

Even Health-Conscious Consumers Find It Hard to Maintain a Healthy Diet

It’s
a proven fact that most people change their eating habits and lifestyle
choices only after a serious health scare such as a heart attack or a
diabetes diagnosis. Still, in many cases that may not be enough. Old
habits tend to die hard, but often there are also not many alternatives
to what they’ve been doing in terms of eating right and taking care of
themselves.

Making Better Diet and Lifestyle Choices
Continues to Be an Uphill Battle

A recent study
found that most consumers after being confronted with a major health
crisis were still influenced in their choices by factors other than
what’s good for their health. For example, people can find it difficult
to change their long established eating habits, says Dr. Yu Ma, an
economics professor at Alberta School of Business and
author of the study. Another highly influential factor is price, he
says. If they get a good deal on a particular item, they will go for it,
and if it’s too expensive, they will stay away, no matter how much they
would benefit healthwise.
Another issue is what he calls the “health halo effect.” Most people
divide foods simply into two categories: healthy and unhealthy, he says.
If something is considered healthful, e.g. a salad or a breakfast
cereal, as opposed to a cheeseburger or a sugar-laden donut, people tend
to overindulge in the “healthy” stuff without much further thought. We
have seen that phenomenon when, for example, fat-free cookies came on
the market and many believed they could consume those in almost
unlimited quantities because of the absence of fat. Of course,
eliminating the fat did not make those cookies less caloric, and the
results became apparent soon thereafter.
Another study,
this one on heart attack and stroke patients, showed that nearly 15
percent did not alter their eating and lifestyle habits after the
incident, including poor diet choices, lack of exercise and smoking.
Less than half of all participants in the study reported having made at
least one change, and less than a third said they made several
improvements. Only 4 percent claimed they did everything that was
recommended to them to prevent further deterioration of their health.
Much of the unwillingness or inability to make healthier diet and
lifestyle choices can be blamed on the widespread confusion among the
public due to the ceaseless onslaught of sometimes contradictory
messages in the media about health matters. In addition, many of the
warnings issued by experts are hard to heed by consumers who are
oftentimes ignorant, if not intentionally kept in the dark, about the
nutritional quality of their food supply. For instance, recommendations
to avoid high fat, salt and sugar content may be well-meaning, but they
are by and large useless when ingredients lists are hard to decipher or
when restaurants aren’t required to follow any dietary guidelines or to
post nutritional information on their menus.
“I think people are interested in making changes and they are heeding
the warnings,” said Dr. Sara Bleich, an associate professor of health
policy at the John Hopkins School of Public Health to NBCNews.
“But when it comes to food, it’s much more complicated. Cereal, for
example, has a tremendous amount of added sugar. And not everyone
understands that breakfast foods like muffins and pastry, things that
people don’t consider to be a dessert or an indulgence, pack a lot of
sugar.” Similar concerns apply to salt in countless processed foods,
many of which don’t even taste salty, and certain types of fats, some of
which are obscured by arbitrary serving descriptions on food labels.
Undoubtedly, more and more people want to be better informed about
nutritional health and be empowered to make the right choices. With
growing consumer demand for further regulation and protection, that may
be feasible over time. But for now, it’s an ongoing uphill battle, and
most of us have to fend for ourselves as well as we can.

- See more at:
http://www.timigustafson.com/2013/even-health-conscious-consumers-find-it-hard-to-maintain-a-healthy-diet/#sthash.Wwt9xIzu.dpuf

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Which came first, the larger waistline or the bigger portion size? This
is like one of those philosophical questions about art imitating life or
the chicken/egg paradox.

Over the past few years portions have grown significantly in fast food
and sit-down restaurants, as has the frequency of eating out.
Subsequently, waistlines have also grown right along with
this trend.

Do food companies simply cater to the desires of the overweight by serving them more food? Or are people overweight because food companies keep on ramping up their plate sizes in an effort to
outdo their competition? Or maybe it is both.

At the end of the day, the fact remains that 20 years ago portion size was a fraction of what we see today. Average portion sizes have grown so much over the past 20 years that
sometimes the plate arrives and there's enough food for two or even
three people on it. Growing portion sizes are changing what people
think of as a "normal" portion at home too. We call it portion distortion.

Friday, 6 December 2013

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. This means that your body can store extra amounts of vitamin D. It aids in the
absorption of calcium and phosphate by the intestine

Sources of Vitamin D:

There are 3 ways to get Vitamin D: food, sunlight and supplements. If
you are not getting enough sunlight or you don’t spend enough time
outdoors, you need to take supplements in order to cover your Vitamin D
shortage. Foods which contain Vitamin D3 include fish (catfish, salmon, mackerel,
sardines, tuna, eel), eggs, fortified milk, and cod liver oil with
lesser amounts in beef liver, cheese,shiitake mushrooms and egg yolks.

Thursday, 5 December 2013

November 2nd is Vitamin D Day!

Vitamin D Day is a day to recognize vitamin D deficiency as a world problem.

Researchers agree that at least one third of the world is deficient
in vitamin D, and some scientists even think a greater percent of people
are deficient in vitamin D.

Why are so many people deficient, you might ask? It’s simple really.
We get vitamin D from sun exposure. And now, more than ever, the world’s
population lives an indoor lifestyle, avoiding the sun daily. Doctors are beginning to discover that vitamin D deficiency is a risk
factor for many diseases, including heart disease and cancer.
Learn, educate and participate; let’s get the word out!

“Vitamin D
deficiency is a global pandemic that has serious health consequences for
children and adults. Improvement in the world’s vitamin D status could
significantly reduce risk of many chronic illnesses including
cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes
and many deadly cancers as well as infectious diseases including upper
respiratory tract infections, influenza and tuberculosis.”

If you expect sunshine to
provide you with vitamin D, then you’d better make sure that the sun is
high enough in the sky, because when the sun is low on the horizon it
cannot help skin make vitamin D.

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Are you
surrounded by coughs and sneezes? From October through march, flu season
is in full swing. The best way to prevent the seasonal flu is to make
sure you and your loved ones, especially children and the elderly, eat a immunity boosting diet.

Good nutrition is essential to keeping your immune system strong.
Nutrients important to supporting your body's ability to fight
infections include:

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

So did you you always wonder why eating oranges are better and not drinking the juice so here it is...

Think about this, it takes 3-4 oranges to make a one-cup
serving of orange juice. You can drink a cup of orange juice in 25
seconds and instantly ask for another glass. How long does it take to
eat 3 oranges, even if they have been peeled and sectioned for you?
After eating 3 oranges, will you eat 3 more?While whole pieces of fruit keep you busy and satiated, fruit juice
makes you want to drink more.

Eat This

Not That

Orange

Orange Juice

With about 48 calories and 2.4 grams of fiber (source USDA), a whole orange is more
than orange juice. You could have 2 oranges for the same calories in a
cup of juice, plus the bonus of 5g of fiber. Also the carotene (vit A) content is drastically reduced in orange juice as compared to a whole orange. Adding a piece of fruit to
your breakfast is an easy way to pump up your nutrients. Switch it up
with a variety of colors and flavors, like berries, pineapple, kiwi,
melon, and bananas.Here are a few more problems with Whole fruit Vs Fruit juice1.Fruit juice, even 100% freshly squeezed, is a concentrated dose of
sugar that is quickly ingested by our body, spiking blood glucose levels
and straining our pancreas.2.Juice loses one of the most important nutrients that whole fruit
provides – fiber. The cell structure of the fruit keeps the sugars
“under control”, and as a result there is no spike in blood glucose
levels.3.Juicing an entire fruit and consuming the juice without filtration
may theoretically keep the fiber in your drink, but actually tears down
these fiber linings and results in blood glucose spikes as well. 4.You're going to feel hungrier faster than you
would if you ate the whole fruit.

In summary: drink water, eat fruit. Save juice for occasional treats.
Skip the fruit juices, and make it a
habit to enjoy real fruit.

Monday, 2 December 2013

Lets check out if these energy providing nutrients all contain the same amount of energy?

Fats contain about twice as much energy as proteins and carbohydrates.The metabolisation of 1 gram fat gives approx. 9 kcal, while 1 gram carbohydrates or 1 gram protein onlygives 4 kcal. For this reason, foods with high fat content have normally the highest energy content.

Although carbs and protein provide the same calories the basic function of protein is to repair the regular wear and tear happening in the body. Similarly choose from complex high fibre carbs like whole grains to get a sustained energy benefit and not from simple carbs like sugar, biscuits, cakes etc So go ahead and eat high fat foods with caution.

Saturday, 30 November 2013

The 2013 theme for World AIDS Day is “Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Results for an AIDS-Free Generation.”

World AIDS Day on 1 December brings together people from around the world to
raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the
face of the pandemic. The day is an opportunity for public and private partners
to spread awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage progress in
HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in high prevalence countries and around
the world.An HIV-positive person’s body undergoes
changes, both from medications
and the disease itself, therefore good nutrition can have several benefits. It
can:

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Eating a variety of foods is very important for a balanced diet. I keep on stressing this point very often with my clients too, that by eating only one or two kinds of foods, you
will not get the proper balance in your diet that you should have. As each food has different nutrients in it like grains are rich in carbs, dals in proteins, fruits and veges in vitamins (as can also be seen in the image).Also by
eating only one kind of food, the aspect of boredom will arise. Say, for instance, you
have a banana for a snack every day for a month. You will get bored and tired of eating
banans. Instead, try a variety of fruit.Eating many different foods helps maintain a healthy, well-balanced and interesting diet that provides adequate nutrition, also by
getting a variety of foods you will make eating a lot more enjoyable. So go ahead try a new fruit like star fruit or introduce a new grain which you haven't tried yet say nachni(ragi), Jav(barley)...do share your experience too.
Mrs Shilpa Mittal
Nutritionist and Diet Consultant
Founder Shilpsnutrilife - Diet and lifestylemakeover

Thursday, 21 November 2013

Reusing cooking oil has been done for ages
When oil is overused, the color darkens, it develops a stale odor and
taste which attach to the product. If foods darken too quickly (before
they are cooked), it's a sign the oil needs to be changed.
With each use, the oil's smoke point drops (the smoke point of an oil
is the temperature at which the oil begins to decompose and visible
fumes (smoke) are given off) these oil produces some very unhealthy
compounds at normal cooking temperatures and becomes rancid. Rancid oils
also contain free radicals that are potentially carcinogenic.

In order to derive maximum benefits from oil, it is beneficial to consume different kinds of oils, especially so that you get a variety of fatty acids.

For eg:-You could have two or more different kinds of oils in your
kitchen that you could use for different purposes. For example, you
could use olive oil for salads,
groundnut oil for frying and soyabean oil for other cooking purposes.
This will let you take advantage of the health benefits offered by each
oil. Or for a month you can use groundnut oil/ mustard/rice bran and the next month use soya bean/ sunflower.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

My
Article on Dieting Kahee lene ke dene na padha jhaye (All about fad
diet) which generally many of us do as shortcut for weight
loss....published in this month's (Nov 2013) Homemaker issue. — in Mumbai.

About Me

I Mrs Shilpa Mittal Founder of SHILPSNUTRILIFE ......Diet and Lifestyle makeovers, am a nutritionist, have done my masters in food and nutrition and hold a merit rank. I am into this field since last 16 years. I have catered to 10,000 plus clients all across the globe.
I am also attached to various schools and corporates, I take workshop on various health related theme, I blog on topics related to nutrition and also have an android app shilpsnutrilife. I have two clinics both in Mumbai one at borivali-west and the other at kandivali west, I also consult online. Shilpsnutrilife is into delivering personalised, reliable nutritional advice to optimise your health by ensuring your diet contains all the essential nutrients.
No crash diets, pills, powders or supplements given. Get a permanent solution through natural customized diet be it illness or wellness. Enroll now what are you waiting for....call 9870404042 or email at shilpsnutrilife@gmail.com.
For more information visit my FB page : www.facebook.com/shilpsnutrilife or my website;- www.shilpsnutrilife.com